GET READY FOR MUD AND SLIME

From the Washington Post courtesy of the Huffington Post:

In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

The hope is that a vigorous effort to "define" opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. The first round of attacks includes an ad that labeled a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin "Dr. Millionaire" and noted that he has sued 80 patients.

"Opposition research is power," said Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (N.Y.), the NRCC chairman. "Opposition research is the key to defining untested opponents."

Click here for the rest.

This is definitely something to worry about. I mean, it's no surprise, but the fact that they've seemingly become so balls-to-the-walls committed to the idea is kind of scary because Republicans are so damned good at slime warfare. Memories of the 2004 campaign season are still fresh in my mind. Remember how the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" successfully converted John Kerry in the public discourse from war hero, a status that he had for decades, to near traitor? Or how two years before that the right wing smeared and beat war hero and Georgia Senator Max Cleland by running ads that morphed his face into bin Laden's? Those guys were golden, with perfect records, straight as an arrow, bona fide American heroes. With uber-slimer Karl Rove overseeing the whole shebang, I think we might be in for a repeat of recent election history. That is, I don't think the GOP will manage to avoid losing some seats on the Hill, but I think they've got a shot at keeping control of both houses.

I think that probably the best thing targeted Democrats can do is dismiss all slime as dirty tricks and evidence of desperation, while at the same time pounding hard on Iraq, and relating their opponents as much as they can to Bush. It's do-able if they have perseverance. And that's what scares me most: Democrats these days are losers by nature; "persevere" just isn't in their dictionary.

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